Texas roots quartet Folk Family Revival released their debut full-length, Unfolding, back in July of 2011. It’s an honest record, a gritty effort straight from the heart of these three brothers and one honorary brother. Produced and mixed by Jeffery Armstreet at Red Tree Recording Studio in Magnolia, Texas, the album also features Scott Davis, lead guitarist for Hayes Carll.

Mason, Barrett and Lincoln Lankford became fast friends with Caleb Pace when the then pre-teens stood up for him in a squabble at church. If you ask them now, the band is made up of four brothers with a bond that transcends musical barriers formed early in the lives of the brothers long before they’d ever step foot in a recording studio. Not yet old enough to drive and still without a formal band title, the foursome realized in each other a shared love of music, and they quickly began exploring sounds and instrumentation. The band grew as a unit under several names and through varying incarnations of style and lineup. Seemingly the only constant was the four brothers and their love for one another and music. (From the band’s website.)

We asked the foursome to offer themselves up to ATF’s newest feature, the “Self-Interview,” where bands and artists ask themselves the burning (sometimes merely smoldering) questions that no other music journalists have the gumption to ask. So, let’s “beat on, boats against the current…” Enjoy!

If you could spend the day with one artist, who would that be?
Mason Lankford: Picasso.
Caleb Pace: Scott Davis. I spent three days with Scott while we were recording “Unfolding”. In those three days, just seeing his humility and love for playing music inspired me to be better. Since then, I have seen a drastic change in the way I play and others have noticed too!
Lincoln Lankford: Meg White from the White Stripes. Or Ryan Bingham.
Barrett Lankford: Jon Foreman. He’s got a lot of skill that I appreciate and I’d enjoy learning from his wealth of knowledge.

One band or artist you’d love to tour with.
ML: Tyagaraja. Jimmy Pizzitola. Come See My Dead Person. All the friends.
CP: It’s hard to pick just one. But my one would be Hayes Carll.
LL: Come See My Dead Person, Tyagaraja, Jimmy Pizzitola, Hayes Carll, Robert Ellis, Ryan Bingham, or the Black Keys
BL: Hayes Carll. We’ve worked with Scott [his guitarist] before and I think our music would blend well. Also, I’d maybe get a chance to see him naked.

If you were trapped inside of a food and had to eat your way out, what food would you choose?
ML: Popcorn
CP: Barbeque of any kind
LL: Swiss cheese because at least I could get air or find a way out [because of the holes].
BL: This is a difficult one because I love a lot of food. But for this scenario, I’d choose blackberry cobbler.

If you could trade places one day with a character from a movie, who would that character be and why?
ML: Fantastic Mr. Fox
CP: Marshall [Jason Segal] from “How I Met Your Mother” because he is a wiz with his lady, super funny, and has his best friends surrounding him. So, yeah. Him.
LL: Bugs Bunny
BL: The red-headed dude from Braveheart. Actually, I’d just want to be his beard. He has an awesome beard.

What is one band or artist you couldn’t live without?
ML: God
CP: Ryan Bingham
LL: Led Zeppelin
BL: Hayes Carll – especially his album “Trouble in Mind” and “Little Rock”

Where is one place you’d love to travel to that you’ve never been?
ML: To the Bella Vista Tree House Community in Costa Rica.
CP: I would love to go to Australia and see if the Outback Steakhouse is legit.
LL: Ireland
BL: I want to travel everywhere. But if I had to choose the first place, it would 1969 in Tomball, Texas. I’d like to live at that point.

Do you prefer to fishing, hunting, or playing sports.
ML: I like to fish.
CP: Fishing
LL: Fishing and hunting
BL: Fishing and hunting

If you were to be reincarnated, what would you come back as?
ML: Tree Dirt or a Bird
CP: Turtle Skeleton
LL: Great White Shark
BL: Jimmy Page. So, I’d be reincarnated back in time, but that’s what I’d choose.

What is your craziest stage moment?
ML: I fell asleep playing bass at church once.
CP: One time I ripped my pants so badly that I had to leave and go change in the van. About five seconds after that, one of the guys [that I’m not naming…] had a similar accident and pooped his pants!
LL: One night, we did a show at a great bar called West Fields. They kept bringing shots, and that’s all I remember about the show.
BL: At one of our first shows [which was a Battle of the Bands] when I was 13 or 14, I flew off the drum riser, landed on cords, fell on my ass, and we still won.

What was the song that made you say, “I want to play music.”
ML: I don’t know. That was a long time ago.
CP: Newsboys “shine” I don’t know why something clicked I don’t know how to explain!
LL: Amazing Grace
BL: There’s too many to choose from – there are bits even from songs I don’t like that made me want to play music.

If you were not a musician what do you think you would be doing?
ML: I would be homeless. That’s not an overstatement. The other day I told a homeless man if I didn’t play music I would live on the street with him.
CP: Mechanic because that’s really the only thing I know how to
LL: Male Stripper.
BL: There’s things I’m capable of doing if I wasn’t a musician, but nothing I’d want to do. I could make life work as a mechanic, professional bass fisherman, fox-trainer, hand-to-hand combat master, food critic, mattress critic, etc. I wouldn’t want to do any of those things, but am capable of doing those things if I wasn’t a musician.

Which comes first thunder or lightning or do they happen at the same time?
ML: They just happen together.
CP: Same time you just can see it before you hear it!
LL: Lightning then thunder but i guess they can happen at the same time depends on how you look at it
BL: Lightning. Maybe. No. No. If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around, does it make a sound?